.
Leonard Cohen ( Montreal, Quebec, 21 September, 1934)
Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern
With an extraordinary career spanning more than forty years, Canadian musical icon Leonard Cohen has earned the distinction as one of the most influential artists of his generation. A legendary songwriter, Cohen has brought honesty and artistry in a way few others have. His stark images of love, beauty and despair have touched fans and inspired writers and musicians the world over.
Throughout his storied lifetime, Cohen has succeeded as both poet and pop star. Inspired by his own history and romantic experiences, his intelligent musings and musical gifts have endured no matter where he resides - be it the urban chaos of Los Angeles and Montreal, the domestic comfort of a Greek island or monastic isolation of a Zen Buddhist Monastery.
His intense lyrics, spiritual observations and deft humour weave throughout his impressive body of work. Cohen's extraordinary writing and musical talents have gained him numerous accolades, among them: the Governor General's Award for poetry in 1969 which he declined, stating, "the poems themselves forbid it absolutely," followed by several Juno Awards, honorary degrees, and in 2003, the Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civil honor for achievement in the arts.
Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Montreal on September 21, 1934. He attended McGill University, where at 17, he formed a country western trio called the Buckskin Boys. While still an undergraduate, Leonard became part of Montreal's burgeoning Bohemian scene and published his first collection of poetry (Let Us Compare Mythologies) in 1956. The Spice Box of Earth (1961), his second collection of poems, catapulted Cohen to international recognition.
After a brief stint at Columbia University in New York, Cohen traveled throughout Europe and settled on the Greek island of Hydra where he wrote another collection of poetry (Flowers for Hitler, 1964) and two highly acclaimed novels (The Favourite Game, 1963 and Beautiful Losers, 1966). The books have been translated into many languages including Chinese and Japanese.
After seven years on Hydra, Cohen's restless spirit led him to the United States where he pursued his career as a songwriter. Championed by singer/songwriter Judy Collins, Cohen appeared at the Newport Folk Festival in 1967 where he caught the eye - and ear - of legendary Columbia A&R man John Hammond (who also recruited Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to the label) and by Christmas of that year, Columbia released his signature debut album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen.
Songs like the enduringly popular Suzanne, and Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye, So Long, Marianne, and Sisters of Mercy propelled Cohen to the top of the pop music pantheon. The songs had such power that Robert Altman's 1971 film, McCabe and Mrs. Miller became, in effect, the first long form video for Cohen's soundtrack.
Songs From a Room (1969), his second album, and Songs of Love and Hate (1971) further reinforced Cohen's standing as a sentry of solitude. With Bird On a Wire, The Story of Isaac, Joan of Arc, and Famous Blue Raincoat, he continued to stretch the borders of the lyrical landscape of the times.
Recent Songs (1979), co produced with Henry Lewy (who had previously worked with Joni Mitchell), continued Cohen's dissection of the male female union, but also reflected his many explorations into the religious sphere. Various Positions (1984) marked the full flowering of these religious journeys. Songs like Hallelujah, The Law, Heart With No Companion, and If It Be Your Will, are contemporary psalms, born of an undoubtedly long and difficult spiritual odyssey, so difficult that its conclusion left Cohen - in his words " wiped out." I'm Your Man (1988) was the culmination of Cohen's professional and personal reintegration, a beautifully crafted work that speaks eloquently to his experience as a musical elder. Buoyed by now classic songs like First We Take Manhattan, Tower of Song, and Ain't No Cure For Love, the album went to #1 in several countries.
Despite many long passages of time between albums, Cohen's music has been kept on the airwaves through interpretations by artists as diverse as Neil Diamond, Nick Cave, Diana Ross, Joan Baez, Rita Coolidge, and Joe Cocker. Longtime musical colleague Jennifer Warnes released the critically acclaimed Famous Blue Raincoat in 1986, an entire album of Cohen's work.
In 1992, a number of contemporary recording artists collaborated on a tribute to Leonard Cohen. I'm Your Fan (1991) was the brainchild of Christian Fevret, editor of French rock magazine, Les Inrockuptibles. Originally intended for release on the magazine's small offshoot label Oscar, the project mushroomed into an 18 song cover collection released by Atlantic, featuring such prominent musicians as R.E.M., John Cale, Nick Cave, lan McCulloch, The Pixies, House of Love and Lloyd Cole. Tower of Song (1995) featured interpretations of Cohen songs by more mainstream artists such as Billy Joel, Sting, Elton John, Willie Nelson and Bono.
1992 saw the release of his eleventh album, The Future, an amazingly aural documentation befitting a cultural malaise. It was following the 1993 "Future" tour that Leonard Cohen retreated from public life and lived several years at the Zen Center on Mount Baldy in Southern California.
In January 1999, Cohen came down from the mountain armed with hundreds of new lyrics and poems. He settled in Los Angeles where he released two records, first another live album entitled Field Commander Cohen Tour of 1979 and in October, after nine years, the entrancing collection, Ten New Songs. After such a long silence, the power of this new studio album lay in its singleness, its unity of tone, songs flowing one into the other with a grave, contained intensity. In 2002, many of his best-known songs were digitally remastered and released on the double CD The Essential Leonard Cohen.
In 2004, Cohen returned with Dear Heather, produced with collaborators and singers, Sharon Robinson and Anjani Thomas. This musically diverse collection of songs seemed to celebrate the beauty of the world he had returned to with soaring lyrical styles and musical arrangements. Cohen's supporters and the sizeable online community of newsgroups and chat lines continually dissecting his creations anxiously await his next release. He is now working on new songs for his next album for a possible mid-2006 release. He is also working on new songs for Anjani Thomas' forthcoming album Blue Alert, to be released in Spring 2006.
A lyrical icon whose musical trials and travails have led him through an odyssey of hope, conflict and love, Leonard Cohen has taken us to that place by the harbor and our world has become much richer for the journey.
INDUCTED SONGS
Suzanne - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1967; Lyrics & Music: Leonard Cohen. In 1966, Leonard Cohen penned Suzanne with the landscape of the Old Port in Montreal in mind. Leonard Cohen revealed, "the song was begun, and the chord pattern was developed, before a woman's name entered the song. And I knew it was a song about Montreal..." The beautiful poem and love song was originally inspired by the view of the Montreal harbour from the observation tower of the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours chapel, known as the Sailors' Church. Remnants of the chapel are found in the lines, "And the sun pours down like honey/ On our lady of the harbour" which are in reference to the Our Lady of the Harbour statue that stands, with arms outstretched, towards the St. Lawrence river. It was after Cohen's chance meeting with Suzanne, the wife of sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, that life was breathed into the piece. She invited him to her home located near the river where the pair shared a cup of tea. "Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river," begins the beautiful and descriptive narrative of the woman who "feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China." Suzanne is poetry set to music. The beautiful and descriptive narrative was published in Selected Poems 1956-1968 (Toronto 1968) and later released on his debut LP, Songs of Leonard Cohen, in 1967. Judy Collins would be the first to record the song after having heard it sung to her over the telephone by Cohen, himself, and Noel Harrison would take the single to Number 56 on the pop charts. The song would go on to become one of Cohen's most covered singles with over 100 versions to its credit. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Judy Collins, Nina Simone, Neil Diamond, Peter Gabriel, Françoise Hardy, Noel Harrison, Pauline Julien, Harry Belafonte, Roberta Flack, Graeme Allwright, Catherine McKinnon, Chad Mitchell, Tom Northcott, Joan Baez, and Genesis.
Bird On The Wire - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1969; Composer & Lyrics: Leonard Cohen. On a small Greek island, Leonard Cohen moved into an old seaman's house. There were no telephone poles or wires, but electricity finally came and with it wires that stretched across his windows. Watching them with a sense of disappointment and annoyance, Cohen noticed a bird on one of the wires: this was the genesis of the famous and much loved song. As with most of his work, it took many years to revise it and bring it to some acceptable version. Bird on the Wire reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard music chart, #31 on Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart, and was used as the inspiration for a 1990 movie staring Mel Gibson, in which Aaron Neville sang the title song. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, Neville Brothers, Johnny Cash, Tom Cochrane, Judy Collins, Rita Coolidge, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Soul Asylum, and Blackeyed Susans.
Hallelujah - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1984; Composer & Lyrics: Leonard Cohen. Hallelujah is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful musical pieces ever written. Yeah but I remember, yeah when I moved in you and the holy dove, she was moving too and every breath we drew was Hallelujah. Although Hallelujah never neared the top of the charts or received significant airplay, it has become a favorite of both fans and artists, including Jeff Buckley and Bob Dylan, both of whom recorded cover versions. Buckley's 1994 version is considered by many to be the most dramatic and striking version, helping to launch the song into mainstream popularity. Most recently, Rufus Wainwright's cover, following Buckley's style, appeared on the soundtrack of the blockbuster hit, Shrek. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Bono, Jeff Buckley, John Cale, Alison Krauss Bob Dylan, k.d. lang, Patricia O'Callaghan, Rufus Wainwright, and India Arie.
Everybody Knows - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1988; Composer & Lyrics: Leonard Cohen, Sharon Robinson. Featured on the album I'm Your Man, the moody song Everybody Knows was one of the Leonard Cohen's first collaborations with American songwriter and vocalist Sharon Robinson. Everybody Knows gained mainstream popularity when a cover version by Concrete Blonde was used in the 1990 soundtrack for Pump Up the Volume, which reached #20 on American charts. The original song also appeared in the popular Atom Egoyan film, Exotica, and was covered by Don Henley on a Leonard Cohen tribute album in 1995. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Concrete Blonde, Dark Gift, Keith Hancock, Don Henley, Dayna Kurtz, Mean Larry & Friends, Jean-Claude Toran, Florent Vollant, and The Washington Squares.
Ain't No Cure For Love - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1988; Composer & Lyrics: Leonard Cohen. Many of Cohen's songs have a recurring theme of love. According to Cohen, Ain't No Cure For Love addressed the idea that it "doesn't matter whether we found ourselves in the loneliness of separation or the vertigo of union, everyone finally learns there ain't no cure for love." Released by Jennifer Warnes on her brilliant 1986 Leonard Cohen tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat, Ain't No Cure For Love was later released by Cohen in 1988 on his I'm Your Man album. Considered by many to be his comeback album, I'm Your Man reached #1 in several European countries, earning Cohen a CBC Crystal Globe Award, reserved for artists who sell more than 5 million copies of an album in foreign territories. Cohen's version of Ain't No Cure For Love was used in the 1990 movie Love at Large. The song was also recorded by Aaron Neville and was featured on the all-star Cohen Tribute album Tower of Song. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Grassland Boys, Aaron Neville, Northwood, and Jennifer Warnes.
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Leonard Cohen ( Montreal, Quebec, 21 September, 1934)
Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern
With an extraordinary career spanning more than forty years, Canadian musical icon Leonard Cohen has earned the distinction as one of the most influential artists of his generation. A legendary songwriter, Cohen has brought honesty and artistry in a way few others have. His stark images of love, beauty and despair have touched fans and inspired writers and musicians the world over.Throughout his storied lifetime, Cohen has succeeded as both poet and pop star. Inspired by his own history and romantic experiences, his intelligent musings and musical gifts have endured no matter where he resides - be it the urban chaos of Los Angeles and Montreal, the domestic comfort of a Greek island or monastic isolation of a Zen Buddhist Monastery.
His intense lyrics, spiritual observations and deft humour weave throughout his impressive body of work. Cohen's extraordinary writing and musical talents have gained him numerous accolades, among them: the Governor General's Award for poetry in 1969 which he declined, stating, "the poems themselves forbid it absolutely," followed by several Juno Awards, honorary degrees, and in 2003, the Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civil honor for achievement in the arts.
Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Montreal on September 21, 1934. He attended McGill University, where at 17, he formed a country western trio called the Buckskin Boys. While still an undergraduate, Leonard became part of Montreal's burgeoning Bohemian scene and published his first collection of poetry (Let Us Compare Mythologies) in 1956. The Spice Box of Earth (1961), his second collection of poems, catapulted Cohen to international recognition.
After a brief stint at Columbia University in New York, Cohen traveled throughout Europe and settled on the Greek island of Hydra where he wrote another collection of poetry (Flowers for Hitler, 1964) and two highly acclaimed novels (The Favourite Game, 1963 and Beautiful Losers, 1966). The books have been translated into many languages including Chinese and Japanese.
After seven years on Hydra, Cohen's restless spirit led him to the United States where he pursued his career as a songwriter. Championed by singer/songwriter Judy Collins, Cohen appeared at the Newport Folk Festival in 1967 where he caught the eye - and ear - of legendary Columbia A&R man John Hammond (who also recruited Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to the label) and by Christmas of that year, Columbia released his signature debut album, The Songs of Leonard Cohen.
Songs like the enduringly popular Suzanne, and Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye, So Long, Marianne, and Sisters of Mercy propelled Cohen to the top of the pop music pantheon. The songs had such power that Robert Altman's 1971 film, McCabe and Mrs. Miller became, in effect, the first long form video for Cohen's soundtrack.
Songs From a Room (1969), his second album, and Songs of Love and Hate (1971) further reinforced Cohen's standing as a sentry of solitude. With Bird On a Wire, The Story of Isaac, Joan of Arc, and Famous Blue Raincoat, he continued to stretch the borders of the lyrical landscape of the times.
Recent Songs (1979), co produced with Henry Lewy (who had previously worked with Joni Mitchell), continued Cohen's dissection of the male female union, but also reflected his many explorations into the religious sphere. Various Positions (1984) marked the full flowering of these religious journeys. Songs like Hallelujah, The Law, Heart With No Companion, and If It Be Your Will, are contemporary psalms, born of an undoubtedly long and difficult spiritual odyssey, so difficult that its conclusion left Cohen - in his words " wiped out." I'm Your Man (1988) was the culmination of Cohen's professional and personal reintegration, a beautifully crafted work that speaks eloquently to his experience as a musical elder. Buoyed by now classic songs like First We Take Manhattan, Tower of Song, and Ain't No Cure For Love, the album went to #1 in several countries.
Despite many long passages of time between albums, Cohen's music has been kept on the airwaves through interpretations by artists as diverse as Neil Diamond, Nick Cave, Diana Ross, Joan Baez, Rita Coolidge, and Joe Cocker. Longtime musical colleague Jennifer Warnes released the critically acclaimed Famous Blue Raincoat in 1986, an entire album of Cohen's work.
In 1992, a number of contemporary recording artists collaborated on a tribute to Leonard Cohen. I'm Your Fan (1991) was the brainchild of Christian Fevret, editor of French rock magazine, Les Inrockuptibles. Originally intended for release on the magazine's small offshoot label Oscar, the project mushroomed into an 18 song cover collection released by Atlantic, featuring such prominent musicians as R.E.M., John Cale, Nick Cave, lan McCulloch, The Pixies, House of Love and Lloyd Cole. Tower of Song (1995) featured interpretations of Cohen songs by more mainstream artists such as Billy Joel, Sting, Elton John, Willie Nelson and Bono.
1992 saw the release of his eleventh album, The Future, an amazingly aural documentation befitting a cultural malaise. It was following the 1993 "Future" tour that Leonard Cohen retreated from public life and lived several years at the Zen Center on Mount Baldy in Southern California.
In January 1999, Cohen came down from the mountain armed with hundreds of new lyrics and poems. He settled in Los Angeles where he released two records, first another live album entitled Field Commander Cohen Tour of 1979 and in October, after nine years, the entrancing collection, Ten New Songs. After such a long silence, the power of this new studio album lay in its singleness, its unity of tone, songs flowing one into the other with a grave, contained intensity. In 2002, many of his best-known songs were digitally remastered and released on the double CD The Essential Leonard Cohen.
In 2004, Cohen returned with Dear Heather, produced with collaborators and singers, Sharon Robinson and Anjani Thomas. This musically diverse collection of songs seemed to celebrate the beauty of the world he had returned to with soaring lyrical styles and musical arrangements. Cohen's supporters and the sizeable online community of newsgroups and chat lines continually dissecting his creations anxiously await his next release. He is now working on new songs for his next album for a possible mid-2006 release. He is also working on new songs for Anjani Thomas' forthcoming album Blue Alert, to be released in Spring 2006.
A lyrical icon whose musical trials and travails have led him through an odyssey of hope, conflict and love, Leonard Cohen has taken us to that place by the harbor and our world has become much richer for the journey.
INDUCTED SONGS
Suzanne - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1967; Lyrics & Music: Leonard Cohen. In 1966, Leonard Cohen penned Suzanne with the landscape of the Old Port in Montreal in mind. Leonard Cohen revealed, "the song was begun, and the chord pattern was developed, before a woman's name entered the song. And I knew it was a song about Montreal..." The beautiful poem and love song was originally inspired by the view of the Montreal harbour from the observation tower of the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours chapel, known as the Sailors' Church. Remnants of the chapel are found in the lines, "And the sun pours down like honey/ On our lady of the harbour" which are in reference to the Our Lady of the Harbour statue that stands, with arms outstretched, towards the St. Lawrence river. It was after Cohen's chance meeting with Suzanne, the wife of sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, that life was breathed into the piece. She invited him to her home located near the river where the pair shared a cup of tea. "Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river," begins the beautiful and descriptive narrative of the woman who "feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China." Suzanne is poetry set to music. The beautiful and descriptive narrative was published in Selected Poems 1956-1968 (Toronto 1968) and later released on his debut LP, Songs of Leonard Cohen, in 1967. Judy Collins would be the first to record the song after having heard it sung to her over the telephone by Cohen, himself, and Noel Harrison would take the single to Number 56 on the pop charts. The song would go on to become one of Cohen's most covered singles with over 100 versions to its credit. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Judy Collins, Nina Simone, Neil Diamond, Peter Gabriel, Françoise Hardy, Noel Harrison, Pauline Julien, Harry Belafonte, Roberta Flack, Graeme Allwright, Catherine McKinnon, Chad Mitchell, Tom Northcott, Joan Baez, and Genesis.
Bird On The Wire - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1969; Composer & Lyrics: Leonard Cohen. On a small Greek island, Leonard Cohen moved into an old seaman's house. There were no telephone poles or wires, but electricity finally came and with it wires that stretched across his windows. Watching them with a sense of disappointment and annoyance, Cohen noticed a bird on one of the wires: this was the genesis of the famous and much loved song. As with most of his work, it took many years to revise it and bring it to some acceptable version. Bird on the Wire reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard music chart, #31 on Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart, and was used as the inspiration for a 1990 movie staring Mel Gibson, in which Aaron Neville sang the title song. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, Neville Brothers, Johnny Cash, Tom Cochrane, Judy Collins, Rita Coolidge, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Soul Asylum, and Blackeyed Susans.
Hallelujah - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1984; Composer & Lyrics: Leonard Cohen. Hallelujah is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful musical pieces ever written. Yeah but I remember, yeah when I moved in you and the holy dove, she was moving too and every breath we drew was Hallelujah. Although Hallelujah never neared the top of the charts or received significant airplay, it has become a favorite of both fans and artists, including Jeff Buckley and Bob Dylan, both of whom recorded cover versions. Buckley's 1994 version is considered by many to be the most dramatic and striking version, helping to launch the song into mainstream popularity. Most recently, Rufus Wainwright's cover, following Buckley's style, appeared on the soundtrack of the blockbuster hit, Shrek. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Bono, Jeff Buckley, John Cale, Alison Krauss Bob Dylan, k.d. lang, Patricia O'Callaghan, Rufus Wainwright, and India Arie.
Everybody Knows - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1988; Composer & Lyrics: Leonard Cohen, Sharon Robinson. Featured on the album I'm Your Man, the moody song Everybody Knows was one of the Leonard Cohen's first collaborations with American songwriter and vocalist Sharon Robinson. Everybody Knows gained mainstream popularity when a cover version by Concrete Blonde was used in the 1990 soundtrack for Pump Up the Volume, which reached #20 on American charts. The original song also appeared in the popular Atom Egoyan film, Exotica, and was covered by Don Henley on a Leonard Cohen tribute album in 1995. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Concrete Blonde, Dark Gift, Keith Hancock, Don Henley, Dayna Kurtz, Mean Larry & Friends, Jean-Claude Toran, Florent Vollant, and The Washington Squares.
Ain't No Cure For Love - Year Inducted: 2006; Era Inducted To: Modern; Written In: 1988; Composer & Lyrics: Leonard Cohen. Many of Cohen's songs have a recurring theme of love. According to Cohen, Ain't No Cure For Love addressed the idea that it "doesn't matter whether we found ourselves in the loneliness of separation or the vertigo of union, everyone finally learns there ain't no cure for love." Released by Jennifer Warnes on her brilliant 1986 Leonard Cohen tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat, Ain't No Cure For Love was later released by Cohen in 1988 on his I'm Your Man album. Considered by many to be his comeback album, I'm Your Man reached #1 in several European countries, earning Cohen a CBC Crystal Globe Award, reserved for artists who sell more than 5 million copies of an album in foreign territories. Cohen's version of Ain't No Cure For Love was used in the 1990 movie Love at Large. The song was also recorded by Aaron Neville and was featured on the all-star Cohen Tribute album Tower of Song. COVER ARTISTS INCLUDE: Grassland Boys, Aaron Neville, Northwood, and Jennifer Warnes.
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